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I have to say I didn’t realize how difficult it is to buy a house right now…you’d think with this “buyer’s market” it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, after all, it’s not that there has been a shortage of houses we liked…but still it feels to me like luck and circumstance play more of a part than one might like.

It happened that way with this house. We were in the neighborhood to look at a different house down the street and I saw this one on the corner and pretty much started hyperventilating when I saw it was for sale.

A Spanish house, corner lot…Jon went and grabbed a flyer and said, “Only two bedrooms.” We wanted three but I convinced him to at least look at it since we’d be coming back with the realtor to look at the other house.

I walked into an extra room off the kitchen and realized actually, there are three “bedrooms”, the extra room just wasn’t listed because it has no closet! The more I saw, the more I fell in love…and amazingly, Jon liked it too. The bedrooms were on the small side but the living areas were big and open—there was an extra enclosed patio/family room, a big yard and a garage! He actually would consider it…

We put our offer in, a week went by and nothing. This is part of the problem when trying to buy a house here, in my experience. When we bought in England we heard back the same day. Here, people take their sweet time, if they even call you back at all. Luckily Jon is impatient and a doer, so he got our agent to arrange a conference call with the seller’s agent. As it happened, the agent just showed up at the house, we found out what it would take to get the job done and did it! That’s what I mean about the luck…the agent thought we were a different couple who had offered on the house. He didn’t even think ours was a serious offer.

And we heard back yesterday. There is a LOT of work to be done on this home but I can’t wait to share the process of transformation with you! I never in a million years thought my first house in San Diego would get to be this cute and it is going to be even better when it’s done and loved again!

The first things we are going to do: paint inside and redo the floors. Dark or light? I’m kind of feeling light floors lately…I would like to stay sympathetic to the style of the house, which you might call “Spanish Eclectic”, or “Spanish/Mediterranean”, without creating a period piece and at the same time creating a fun and liveable home with a mix of old and new things.

As you may or may not know, Jon & I have been house-hunting for a few months now. The market in San Diego is finally reaching a more realistic level and we have been wanting our own place for a long time. When we lived in England we lived in a cute little brick row home and we (I should probably say I as I’m not sure Jon thought so) had so much fun redecorating and making it our own.

The above isn’t a picture of my exact house– I couldn’t find any pictures– but it might as well be; it was just like that.

One of the things I love about living in different places is that each home is different–I feel that each place actually tells you how it wants to be decorated. Not exactly literally, but almost. For example, that house in England had a completely different light and a different feeling than the loft I lived in in Brooklyn:

or my sunny apartment here in California. It wanted different colors & different textures than I would have used elsewhere. Grays, moody purples and mushroom colors just looked right there, as did the textures of rustic wooden floorboards, exposed brick, and slate. Even a little bit of chintz…

So needless to say one of the things I am most excited about when we move house is the opportunity to do something different. And I imagine different things for every house we look at, which so far have included a new-build, very open & light-filled condo in Golden Hill:

(which would have been fantastic with dark wood floors, white and splashes of color everywhere), a Spanish-style 1930’s home with fruit trees and a statue of Mary in the front yard:

another Spanish-style home with city views and ocean breezes:

(both an opportunity to do something eclectic and bohemian, mixing traditional with new), and, most recently, a 1950’s ranch style place with giant windows and a beautiful yard:

(I’m thinking light floors in this one, and modern with a twist, not a period-piece!).

Wherever we end up, I can’t wait to share the transformation with you. I just hope I can get it all done before I get bored with my original concept! Yes, I’m one of those…